Technological Leapfrogging. Examine the Importance of Technological Leapfrogging for Developing Countries
Essay: Technological Leapfrogging Mr Bouquet Charlotte Higgins
Examine the Importance of Technological Leapfrogging for Developing Countries
(15 marks)
Technological leapfrogging is the providing of a quick or short-cut route to the most appropriate technology. There is a clear gap between the developed world and the developing world in terms of a digital divide. The digital divide is any inequalities between groups in terms of access to information and communication technologies.
An example of successful technological leapfrogging comes from India, which decided to leapfrog the technology of landlines to mobiles. In 1998 there were 22 landline telephones per one thousand people, due to landlines being expensive and wait for installation was an unacceptable few years. However, with the use of mobile phones 7 million Indian’s signed up a month during 2007 and users doubled from 100 million to 200 million in just a year. They allow a major expansion of networks into the untapped rural market, and are encouraged by a bottom-up innovation, where villages are using car batteries to charge their mobile phones. They have allowed from the an increase in income, with the growing middle class benefitting from outsourced jobs in IT & call centres. Mobile phones have the potential to narrow the digital divide by providing the poor in India with access to the information they need in order to maximise their economic outputs and minimise their risks.